“Fans are our 12th man against Uzbekistan”: Carlos Queiroz [VIDEO]

Tehran Times – TEHRAN, Iran national football team coach Carlos Queiroz calls for fans to pack out Azadi Stadium for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Uzbekistan.

Team Melli will host Uzbekistan on Monday at the Azadi Stadium and a win will see the team advance to the World Cup.

Iran stands on the brink of advancing to successive FIFA World Cups for the first time in their history.

“Uzbekistan are strong and we need to our fans as Iran’s 12th man. If we want to reach our standards we’ve planned we need to concentrate 90 minutes and show a good performance. Team Melli have to be strong both in attack and defense,” Queiroz said in the pre-match news conference.

“Our best player in the match against Uzbekistan is our fans. All teams need the fans and we will have an easier work with them,” the former Real Madrid coach added.

Unbeaten in seven qualifying games, Iran have been in dominant form in Group A, having yet to concede a goal on the Road to Russia.

“In football, you can’t achieve anything without hard work. We will see our match as a World Cup final. I am sure we will get a good result on Monday,” he added.

“Iran has not qualified for the World Cup yet and after the final whistle, we can talk about that. We know that Uzbekistan are candidates to finish the campaign as the first or second team. The match against Uzbekistan is our most important game in the competition,” Queiroz concluded.